Chapter 35
I pack an overnight bag just in case I stay at Noah’s, even though I’ll probably come home later. The weekend and the day are catching up with me.
I don’t allow myself to think about tomorrow. I’ll be going back to work to either find a new investor or buyer and/or to start looking into filing for bankruptcy—or I won’t.
As for the… magical baby …it’s still Monday.
I can still google it. I can still figure it out.
I make a point of fully tuning out L. Emerson’s internal tirade that’s trumpeting through my subconscious: Have you completely and totally lost your mind?
??? And also the Earth Mother/sex goddess team, who are clutching at hope and doing high fives.
No need for that trip to Ireland after all! !
Noah’s business offer still doesn’t seem real. I take a deep breath, putting it—along with the long list of other things I’ll worry about later—out of my mind as we make our way onto the street, his arm firmly around me and his hand holding mine.
There’s a fancy-looking but understated car waiting in front of my building. As soon as the driver sees Noah, he opens the back door for us.
Noah helps me get in. I slide along the back seat and he gets in next to me.
The scene reminds me of our taxi ride earlier this morning.
We had a fight. Then we sort of made up.
Then he made an insane offer to buy my company.
Then we had outrageously passionate make-up sex that changed the entire alchemy of my soul, like we’re now irrevocably bonded in a way that can’t be undone.
The seats are made of thick leather that could actually be Italian. Everything about the car screams luxury. “Nice car, Maddox.”
“Thanks. It’s a V8 Maybach. Limos always seem so showy.”
“I guess you don’t need to be showy when you’ve got so much big dick energy,” I tease him.
He pulls me onto his lap. “Don’t get sassy with me, gorgeous, or my big dick will get even harder than it already is and I’ll have to take you over my knee. I’m supposed to be taking it easy with you, remember?”
I lean into him as he holds me close. I can feel the hardness of said big dick energy underneath me but I honestly feel too sore, too replete and too used in the best kind of way for anything other than just taking comfort from his all-encompassing warmth.
“This is your car from now on. If there’s ever a need to go somewhere without me, which there shouldn’t be. It’s bullet-proof. On call 24/7. The driver is a Navy SEAL with executive protection agent training.”
“What?” A disbelieving laugh escapes me.
“You can never be too careful,” he says, in his grizzly bear voice.
Before I can protest that I have no need for such a thing, the car pulls to a stop and the SEAL has already opened the door for us.
Noah helps me out and I notice we’re on Fifth Avenue, in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the city. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
I notice then that someone’s next to us on the sidewalk. It’s a small, elderly woman with a cane, slightly hunched-over and wearing a bright yellow headscarf. She stops walking and squints up at us. “Well, if it isn’t Noah, my knight in shining armor.”
Noah turns. “Enid.” He sounds happy to see her, like she’s an old, dear friend. “How are you? On your way back from Mabel’s?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. I don’t usually visit her in the evenings but her hairless cat Nigel snuck out onto the fire escape so I had to help her lure him back in.
He wasn’t wearing his sweater and she was afraid he’d catch a chill.
He refused the cat treats but the little bastard came back inside for the filet mignon, so all’s well that ends well. ”
Noah laughs. “Glad to hear it. Enid, this is Lucky. Lucky, my friend Enid.”
Enid studies me for a few seconds. “Lucky, your mother is obviously a wise and whimsical woman. She chose the perfect name for you. I’d say without a doubt you’re the luckiest girl in New York City, landing this one.
He’s a gem and a keeper. Take it from an old woman who’s been married five times, to two duds, two shady philanderers and one love of my life: hang on to him with everything you’ve got. ”
“Well, thank you for that advice, Enid.” I look up at Noah and he’s grinning at me.
“Yeah, Lucky. Hang onto me with everything you’ve got.” Damn, the man is gorgeous. To Enid, Noah says, “Can we help you get home, Enid?”
“Nope,” she says. “I’d forgotten how beautiful the city is this time of night. I’m enjoying my stroll. You two enjoy your evening. I’m sure I’ll bump into you again sometime.”
“I hope so,” Noah replies. “Have a good night, Enid.”
Enid shuffles off.
Noah lifts me into his arms.
“Luckiest girl in the world, I tell you!” Enid calls after us.
Noah chuckles.
“What are you doing, Steel?”
He kisses me as he carries me through an extremely luxurious lobby and into an extremely luxurious elevator. “I’m a romantic, Irish. Of course I’m going to carry you over the threshold.”
“What threshold?”
“The threshold to our future together. The thing is, when a Lucky Irish walks into your life, it’s impossible to even think about letting her out of your sight for the rest of time.
The only choice is to shower her with gifts while doing everything in your fucking power to make every single one of her wildest dreams come true.
That’s just the way it is. So buckle up, Sunshine. I haven’t even gotten started.”
I laugh but at the same time my heart breaks a little more. Maybe break is the wrong word. It’s like there’s a fissure in there, forcing open a part of me that was locked away for a long time. Hopefulness, maybe. Belief that all the beauty of life could be realized. Love.
It’s making my head spin because it’s happening so fast but I love him so much.
The elevator doors open into a stylish, no-expenses-spared foyer with thick, tinted glass windows on either side of it, a marble black and white checker-board floor and an over-the-top chandelier that could look at home in a Scottish Highlands hunting lodge.
Noah punches a code into a keypad and the ornate carved wood-and-steel doors open.
Holy fuck.
His apartment is unreal. Expansive, airy and opulent beyond belief.
The natural light is to-die-for. That’s my first impression.
My second is, it’s a little stark. A little too rich-bachelor-pad-who’s-hardly-ever-home.
I could transform this space into something even more comfortable for him, and equally luxurious.
A wall of windows showcases a view of a twilight sky, a few treetops down below, with only a few hints that we’re even in a city at all.
We’re high up. Outside, there’s an enormous patio with a pool, a hot tub with lights that show the rising steam, and a covered outdoor seating area. “Not too shabby, Mr. Maddox.”
“Thanks, Ms. Irish. I’ve been meaning to hire a high-end interior designer. Maybe you can help me with that. You can have free rein, we’ll contact whatever the best design magazine is, get you the feature, and just like that you’re on the map.”
There he goes again, poking at all my secret wildest dreams, like he’s so good at doing.
There’s a buzz at the door. “That must be Bruce.”
“Bruce?”
“My lawyer.” Noah sets me carefully on the couch.
“I would kiss you right now because you’re so unbelievably beautiful it just about blows my head off, but that would get me rock hard again and I’m about to let my lawyer in.
Before I do, let me just say that I’m right here by your side.
Just say yes to all of this. Stay right here. ”
“All of what?”
Noah smirks but says nothing. He goes to the door to open it. A man who could only be a lawyer—and a very expensive one—strides in.
“Bruce Davis, meet Lucky Ashton.”
I stand and shake his hand. Noah invites him over to the 12-seater dining room table next to the space-age chef’s kitchen.
Noah’s arm is around me and he pulls out a chair for me, then pulls his chair close to mine so his thigh is pressed up against mine.
None of this escapes his lawyer’s attention.
“This is a substantially different offer to your earlier one, Noah,” comments Bruce, if not concerned then at least curious.
“It’s a more realistic offer,” Noah tells him, his tone making very clear that he’s serious. His grizzly bear has gone full Kodiak. “We plan to turn Ashton Holdings into a powerhouse. This price reflects its potential. Do you have the paperwork?”
Bruce takes the contract out of his briefcase and slides it across the table.
The wording is exactly the same as the scrawled note Noah wrote this morning. There are a few more pages of legal jargon. And spaces for both our signatures.
“Do you need to consult with your own lawyers, Ms. Ashton?” asks Bruce.
“No.” I’ve never liked my company’s lawyers, chosen of course by my father. They never seem like they’re very good at their jobs.
Bruce nods. “I took the liberty of contacting your CFO for the bank deposit information. Once you sign, the money will be transferred into the Ashton Holdings’ account within minutes. Do you have any questions?”
I look at Noah. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“More sure than I’ve ever been about anything.” The look on his face is so in love I can’t bring myself to hesitate when it comes to anything about him.
I pick up the pen and sign it. Noah does the same.
Bruce keeps his expression strictly professional.
Even if he quietly suspects that his client has lost his mind, he doesn’t show it.
He slides another pile of papers toward me.
“This is the other paperwork you requested, Noah. The transaction has been made and the sale is final. Ms. Ashton, your deed.”
“Deed? What deed?”
“Your apartment building,” Bruce says.
“What apartment building?”
Noah nudges his shoulder against mine. “The one you live in. I bought it. In your name.”
“You bought…the whole building ?”
“Bruce has created a trust for you,” Noah says. “We’ve called it Lucky Irish Holdings.”
“A trust?” My brain can’t keep up with what they’re telling me.
“The trust gives you a layer of protection,” Bruce explains.
“I’ve also created an LLC for you. Lucky Irish Holdings now owns the corporation that owns the building.
There are forty-seven other apartments in the building.
Like yours, seven others are owned. Forty are rented.
We’ve set it up so that the rent, lease, tax and maintenance payments are paid directly into your trust’s bank account.
After the property taxes, maintenance, upkeep expenses, and the salaries of the personnel, the trust will receive a monthly after-tax income of approximately five hundred thousand dollars. ”
“What?”
“All I need is your signature on pages three, seven, and twelve.”
“How did you do all this?” I ask, mostly to Noah, but also to Bruce. “ Today? ”
Bruce takes this as a compliment. “My team works fast.”
I stare at the stack of papers.
“If you prefer to have it looked over, that’s fine,” Bruce says. “But I can assure you it’s airtight.”
Just say yes.
I pick up the pen and sign on all three dotted lines. What is this life?
“That’s everything, then.” Bruce stands, gathers up the paperwork and starts putting it back into his briefcase.
Bruce shakes my hand, then Noah’s, and heads for the door.
“It was nice meeting you, Lucky. Oh, and, Noah, Cash heard through the grapevine that Ashton Holdings was getting ready to accept a new offer.”
“He heard about that?” Noah doesn’t seem surprised.
“Yeah. And he, um…well, he heard that you might be involved in it, and he was fairly insistent about getting all the information out of me. You probably have a few missed calls. All three of your brothers are on their way over here.”